The Long Drive

The Intel Core i3-12100F paired with the Intel Arc B390 presents a unique configuration for The Long Drive, a Driving Simulation title from 2019. This combination produces a highly variable performance profile that is heavily dependent on resolution and quality settings, with the data indicating a system that is firmly constrained by its graphics component in most scenarios. The measured frames per second (FPS) reveal a wide gulf between playable and poor performance, making settings configuration critical.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS data shows a steep and consistent decline as resolution increases, which is a classic indicator of a GPU-bound workload. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves an average of 95 FPS. Moving to 1440p at the same settings drops the average to 63 FPS, a reduction of 33.7%. The most severe drop occurs when moving from 1440p to 4K at Low settings, where the average FPS plummets from 63 to 35, a 44.4% decrease. This pattern of significant FPS loss with each resolution step clearly indicates that the Intel Arc B390 is the limiting component, as the rendering load scales directly with pixel count.

The trend persists across all settings presets, but the scaling factor becomes even more pronounced at higher quality levels. For High settings, the average FPS moves from 49 at 1080p, to 32 at 1440p, and finally to 18 at 4K. The transition from 1440p to 4K at High settings represents a 43.8% performance drop, nearly identical to the percentage loss seen at Low settings. This consistency suggests that the GPU's compute and memory resources are saturated at 4K regardless of the graphical complexity, making the resolution the primary determinant of performance.

The data also shows a clear relationship between the settings preset and the resolution ceiling. At 1080p, the system can produce a 95 FPS average on Low, but this falls to 49 FPS on High. The gap between Low and High settings narrows as resolution increases; at 4K, the difference is only 17 FPS (35 vs 18). This narrowing gap further reinforces that the GPU is the bottleneck, as the additional pixel workload at 4K overshadows the impact of the quality preset changes. The Ultra preset is particularly punishing, with the average FPS dropping to 34 at 1080p and a mere 12 at 4K, indicating that the highest quality settings impose a load that the Arc B390 cannot handle at any resolution.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) based on the Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process. Its performance characteristics are reflected in its benchmark scores, where it achieves a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the data, such as the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX and the NVIDIA GeForce 800M, score 1463 and 1460 respectively, showing the Arc B390 is only 1.3% and 1.5% ahead of these older parts. This positions the GPU at a very low performance tier, which aligns with the low FPS numbers observed in The Long Drive.

The GPU's clock speeds are listed with a base of 300 MHz and a boost of 2500 MHz. The boost clock represents the maximum potential speed, but sustained performance is dependent on power and thermal limits, which are not detailed in the data. The memory configuration is "System Shared," meaning the GPU uses a portion of the system's main memory for video memory, rather than having its own dedicated VRAM. The bandwidth is noted as "System Dependent," which means its performance is tied to the speed of the system's system memory. This shared memory setup is often a performance bottleneck, especially at higher resolutions where larger frame buffers are required, and likely contributes to the steep FPS drops observed at 4K.

The GPU's compute capabilities are rated at 7.680 TFLOPS for FP32 operations and 15.36 TFLOPS for FP16 (2:1). It has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 24 render output units (ROPs). The texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s, and the pixel rate is 60.00 GPixel/s. These specifications, while numerically defined, result in performance that is simply insufficient for the demands of The Long Drive at high resolutions and quality settings. The data shows that the GPU is the decisive factor in this pairing, as the CPU's capabilities are not the primary limitation in any of the measured scenarios.

FAQ

Q: What is the best performance I can expect from this combo?

A: The highest average FPS recorded is 95, achieved at 1920x1080 resolution with Low settings. This is the only configuration in the measured data that approaches a high refresh rate experience.

Q: Can this system run the game at 4K resolution?

A: Technically, yes, but the playability is extremely limited. At 4K with Low settings, the average FPS is 35. The average drops to 29 on Medium and 18 on High, making 4K gameplay generally unsuitable except for the Low preset.

Q: How does the Ultra preset affect performance compared to Low?

A: The Ultra preset causes a massive performance penalty. At 1080p, the average FPS drops from 95 on Low to 34 on Ultra, a 64.2% decrease. At 4K, the average FPS falls to 12 on Ultra, which is effectively unplayable.

Q: Is the game more demanding on the CPU or the GPU in this setup?

A: The benchmark data indicates the GPU is the limiting factor. This is evidenced by the significant FPS drops as resolution scaling increases, which increases the GPU's workload. The CPU's performance is less relevant in these scenarios.

Q: What are the minimum FPS values recorded for Medium settings?

A: For the Medium preset, the minimum FPS values are 66 at 1080p, 44 at 1440p, and 24 at 4K. These minimums are notably lower than the averages, indicating potential for stutter or frame drops.

Q: How does the GPU's performance compare to its nearest rivals?

A: In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, the Intel Arc B390 scores 1482. This is only 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX, which scores 1463, and 1.5% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 800M, which scores 1460. It is essentially in the same performance tier as these older, low-end parts.

How This Combo Ranks

The overall ranking for this combination in The Long Drive is 2594 out of 2934 tested combos, placing it in the bottom 11.5% of all configurations. This rank of 2594 reflects the system's inability to deliver high frame rates, particularly at higher resolutions and quality settings. The position is a direct consequence of the Intel Arc B390's low performance ceiling, as the GPU's 9th percentile ranking among all GPUs is a strong indicator of its limited capabilities.

The combo's rank is not influenced by the CPU's relative strength, as the Intel Core i3-12100F is in the 68th percentile of all CPUs. This discrepancy between the CPU's and GPU's performance percentiles highlights a significant imbalance. The system is heavily bottlenecked by the GPU, meaning that the CPU's potential is largely untapped in this game. For a user, this ranking suggests that the experience will be defined by the GPU's limitations, and that focusing on low resolutions and quality settings is the only path to acceptable performance. The data shows a configuration that is far more suited to older or less demanding titles than a modern Driving Simulation at high fidelity.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i3-12100F is a 4-core, 8-thread processor from the Alder Lake architecture. Its base clock is 3.30 GHz, and it can boost up to 4.30 GHz. The CPU's benchmark scores, such as a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 11860 and a single-core score of 1674, place it in the 68th percentile of all CPUs. This indicates it is a capable mid-range processor. In the context of The Long Drive, the CPU's role appears to be secondary, as the performance data points to the GPU as the primary bottleneck.

The evidence for this is the consistent FPS drop associated with resolution increases. When the resolution is increased, the CPU's workload for game logic and physics remains relatively constant, while the GPU's workload increases significantly. Since the FPS drops dramatically with resolution, it demonstrates that the GPU is unable to keep up with the increased rendering demands. The CPU, with its 4 cores and 8 threads, is likely sufficient to feed the GPU at lower resolutions, as seen in the 1080p Low setting achieving 95 FPS. However, at higher resolutions, the GPU's rendering time dominates the frame time, making the CPU's performance less relevant.

The CPU's cache hierarchy includes 80 KB of L1 and 1.25 MB of L2 per core, with a shared 12 MB L3 cache. This is a standard configuration for its class. While the data does not include specific CPU utilization metrics for the game, the performance scaling pattern strongly suggests that the GPU is the limiting factor. The benchmark results indicate that the i3-12100F has sufficient single-thread and multi-thread performance to avoid becoming a significant constraint at the frame rates this GPU can produce. The 3DMark 8-thread score of 4026 and the 2-thread score of 1659 show that the processor can handle both lightly and heavily threaded workloads, which is beneficial for a game that may use multiple threads for various systems.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a complete picture of performance across all combinations of resolution and quality settings. At 1920x1080, the Low preset yields an average of 95 FPS, the highest recorded. The Medium preset at the same resolution produces an average of 78 FPS, with a minimum of 66 and a maximum of 90. High settings at 1080p deliver an average of 49 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to an average of 34 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the performance decreases across the board. The Low preset averages 63 FPS. The Medium preset averages 51 FPS, with a minimum of 44 and a maximum of 59. High settings at 1440p yield an average of 32 FPS. The Ultra preset is significantly slower, with an average of 22 FPS. At 3840x2160, the Low preset averages 35 FPS, and the Medium preset averages 29 FPS, with a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 33. High settings at 4K produce an average of 18 FPS, and the Ultra preset has the lowest average of all at 12 FPS.

The data shows that the only configurations with an average FPS above 60 are 1080p Low and 1440p Low. The 1080p Medium preset is close, at 78 FPS. All other configurations fall below 60 FPS, with the 4K and Ultra presets falling far below the threshold for smooth gameplay. The minimum FPS values for the Medium presets are notably lower than their averages, suggesting that the game may experience occasional stutters even at these moderate settings.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal experience for this hardware combination is achieved by prioritizing low resolution and low-to-medium quality settings. The best balance of visual fidelity and performance is found at 1920x1080 with the Medium preset. This configuration provides an average of 78 FPS, which is a solid frame rate for a driving simulation, and the minimum FPS of 66 is still above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. This is the recommended starting point for most users.

For users who prioritize a higher frame rate over visual detail, the 1080p Low preset offers the best performance, with an average of 95 FPS. However, the visual downgrade from Medium to Low may be significant. The 1440p Low preset also provides a playable average of 63 FPS, but the jump from 1080p Medium to 1440p Low is not recommended, as the resolution increase does not compensate for the substantial drop in visual quality settings. The High and Ultra presets should be avoided at all resolutions. Even at 1080p, the High preset averages only 49 FPS, and the Ultra preset is below 35 FPS. At 1440p and 4K, these presets produce averages below 32 FPS, which is not a satisfactory experience.

The data suggests that the Intel Arc B390's capabilities are best utilized at 1080p. Attempting to run the game at 1440p or 4K requires using the Low preset to achieve a playable frame rate, which negates the benefits of a higher resolution. The Ultra preset is effectively unplayable at any resolution in this game. Therefore, the recommended settings are either 1080p Low for maximum performance or 1080p Medium for the best overall experience, with no configurations above 1080p being recommended for a quality experience.